Tunneling machine



Jan. 1-2 1926. Y 1,569,510

n F- C. LIDKE TUNNELING MACHINE g im INVENTOR.

EY 4. Y I M42( Jan. 12 1926.

- F. C. LIDKE TUNNELING MACHINE Patented Jan. 12, 1926.

UNITED STATES 1,569,5ltlv FREDERICK CHARLES LIDKE, 0F NEW lYORK, N. Y.

TUN NELING MACHINE.

Application filed October 7, 1922. Serial No. 592,936.

To all whom @'25 may concern Be it known that I, FREDERICK CHARLES Liens, a citizen of the United States, reside ing-at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented cer tain new and useful Improvements in .Tunneling Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description.

This invention relates to tunneling machines of the type which employ a rotating head carrying thereon a plurality of ex cavating tools that during the rotation of the head move across and in cutting contact with the wall of the tunnel to bey excavated. In prior devices of this type, the various tools carried by each head have been disposed at different distances from the axis of rotation and consequently in action they have been carried through different linear distances while in contact with the wall surface being acted upon. The result has been thatthe tools which travel through the greater linear or circular distance for each rotation, received a much greater wear than those nearer the center of rotation, and consequently, it was necessary to replace or sharpen these tools more frequently than would have been necessary if the cutting work could have been evenly distributed upon all of the tools of each head.

An object of this invention is to provide an improved tunneling machine in which the wear on all of the tools will be substantially uniform; and with which laterally curved or arcuate tunnels can be excavated in a simple and expeditious manner. A further object is to provide an improved tunneling machine for accomplishing these purposes which is simple, durable, and staunch in construction, etifective in operation, and inexpensive. Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description of an embodiment of the invention and the novel features will be particularly pointed out hereinafter in claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. l is a sectional elevation through a tunnel being excavated by a machine con- 2 imcted in accordance with this invention;

' 2 is a sectional plan of the same;

i. g. is a transverse section through the tunnel and excavating machine taken sub stantially along theline 3 3 of'` Figure l;

Fig. t is a transverse.sectionthrough `the same taken substantiallyalong the line 4--4 of Figure l;

Fig. 5 is asectional plan of a portionof the tunneling 4machine taken substantially along the line 5-5 of Figure l;

Fig. 6 is a sectional elevation ofv aportion of the machine taken substantially `,along theline 6-6 ofFigure 2;

Fig. 7 is a sectional elevation-througha portion of the machine takensubstantially along the line 7 7, of Figure 2;

Fig. 8 is a sectional elevation through a portion of the machine taken substantially along the line-88 of Figure ,7

Fig. 9 is a section through aportion of the machine taken substantially along the line 9 9 ofFigure 2; and

Fig. 10 is a section through the same taken substantially along the line 10-10 of Figure 9.

In carrying the invention into practice, the tools are mounted upon a memberv which is mounted for rotation upon an aXiseXtending` transversely of the tunnel and lalso `for rotationabout an axis extending longitudinally of the tunnel. Suitable means is provided for rotating the member about both axes, preferably concomitantly, so lthat the tools will move through paths extending lengthwise of the tunnel as well as crosswise of the tunnel and, therefore, all of the tool's willtravel throughy equal distances while in contact with the wall of the tunnel being acted upon. `When the tools are pneumatically operated, suitable means is provided for conveying compressed air to the tools while being rotated about both axes. The excavating mechanism may be carried by a platform which is connected to a suitable supporting car for a limited movementhorizontally, with the excavating tools projecting forwardly of the car and platform so that the excavating mechanism may be shifted laterally with respect to the car for the purpose of excavating laterally curving tunnels.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, a car l is mounted upon wheels 2 which roll upon rails 3 for movement lengthwise of the tunnel, the rails, being supported by cross ties I in a well known manner. The upper face of thel caris provided .with a circular bearing7 platee upon which a bearing member 6 is rotatably supported for movement in a horizontal plane. A platform 7 is secured to the bearing member 6 so as to be rotatably connected to the car, and at its forward end the platform 7 is provided with a bearing surface 8 which rides upon a bearing surface 9 of the car.

A tubular shaft 10 is disposed lengthwise of the platform 7 and car 1, and is rotatably mounted at one end in a suitable bearing 1l and at an intermediate point in a bearing 12, so as to be capable of rotation about its longitudinal axis. The bearing 12 is disposed at the forward end of 'the platform, and the portion of the shaft 10 which extends forwardly of the bearing 12, is forked to provide parallel bearing arms 13 and 14.

A shaft 15 extends between and is rotatably mounted in arms 13 and 14. A tubular drum 16 is mounted upon 'the shaft 15 by means of sleeves 17 and 18 extending` endwise therefrom and surrounding the shaft 15. A tool carrying member 19 is mounted upon the sleeve 18, and both the sleeve 18 and the member 19 are fixed in any suitable manner to the shaft 15 for rotation there with. The member 19 is provided upon one `end face with gearing teeth 20, by means of which the member 19 and shaft 15 will be rotated about the axis of the shaft 15 in a manner to be hereinafter explained.

A plurality of pneumatically operated tools 21 are mounted upon the periphery of the member 19 for rotation therewith, with the cutting ends 22 of the tools vprojecting outwardly and capable of clearing the shaft l0 and the forked arms 13 and 14 during the rotation. rljhe tools are each connected by a flexible conduit 23 with the interior of the drum 16, through which compressed air is conducted to the tools.

A motor 24 is secured upon the rear end of the platform 7 in any suitable manner, and the rotary shaft 25 thereof carries a pinion 26 which meshes with a gear 27 that is carried upon one end of a shaft 28. |The shaft 28 extends through and is rotatably mounted in a bearing arm 29 extending laterally from a bearing block 30. The other end of the shaft 28 which is upon the opposite side of the bearing 29 carries a clutch member 31. A shaft 32 is rotatably mounted in spaced bearing members 33 and 34 of the bearing block 30, in alignment with the shaft 28. rlhe end of the shaft 32 which abuts the shaft 28, is provided with a clutch member 35 which is keyed thereto for rotation therewith, and which is, at the same time, slidable thereon so as to be shiftable into. and out'of engagement with the clutch member 31. A clutch lever 36, pivoted at 37 to the bearing block 30, engages in an annular groove in the clutch member 35 so as to be able to shift it longitudinally of the shaft 32 into and out ofclutching engagement with the clutch member 31, without restricting its rotation with the shaft 32. peration of the handle 36, therefore, couples or uncouples the shafts 28 and 32.

A worm 38 is fixed on the shaft 32 between the bearings 33 Vand 34 and meshes withy a worm wheel 39 that is fixed upon a horizontally extending shaft 40. rlhe shaft 49 is rotatably mounted in the bearing block 30 and carries a bevel pinion 41 which meshes with a beveled gear 42 provided upon the rear end of the shaft l0. rlherefore, when the motor 24 is operating and the clutch handle 36 has been operated to couple the shafts 28 and 32, the motor` 24 will act through the pinion 26, gear 27, shaft 28,V

shaft 32, worm 38, worm wheel 39, shaft 40, pinion 4l, and gear 42 to rot-ate the shaft 10 about its longitudinal axis and rotate the forked end and parts carried thereby in a direction transversely of the tunnel.

A shaft 43 extends lengthwise of and within the shaft 10', and at its forward end has a bearing in an extension 44 of the arm 13.- lhis shaft carries at its extreme forward end a pinion 45 which meshes continually with the gear teeth 2O on one end face of the rotating tool carrying member 19. The shaft 43 adjacent its rear end has a bearing in an internal boss 46 of the shaft 10, and at its rearwardly projecting end carries a pinion 47. A shaft 48 is rotatably carried by bearing standards 49 and 50 of the platform 7, the shaft 48 being disposed in alignment with the axis of rotation of the shaft 10 and abutting the end thereof. The shaft 48, upon the end abutting the shaft lO, is provided with a gear 51 which meshes with the pinion 47 upon the shaft 43. As the shaft 43 rotates bodily with the shaft 10 about the axis of the latter, the pinion 47 on the shaft 43 will move bodily around the pinion l and remain in mesh therewith.

A gear 52 is fixed Non the shaft 48 and meshes with a gear 53 fixed upon a shaft that is rotatably mounted in the bearing standards 49 and 50. The shaft 54 also has fixed thereon a gear 55 which meshes with a gear 56 that is rotatably mounted upon the shaft 48. The gear 56 has attached thereto a bevel gear 37 which meshes with the bev- Y eled pinion 41 of the shaft 40. Therefore, when the pinion 41 is rotated from the motor todrive the shaft 10, it will also drive the gears 56 and 57, and the latter through the gears 55, 53, 52 and 51, and pinion 47 will rotate the shaft 43 about its own axis while the shaft 43 is being bodily rotated with the shaft 10. The shaft 43 in rotating will act through the pinion to rotate the tool carrying head 19 and its shaft 15 about the axis of the latter, so as to carry the tools in planes extending lengthwise of the tunnel.

The shaft 10, intermediate of its ends, is

fil)

provided with transversely extending interna] walls 58 and 59 which are slightly spaced apart to form between them a chamber 60. The chamber 60 communicates with the periphery of the shaft by one or more passages 61. A sleeve 62 surrounds the shaft l0 and is supported by cylindrical bosses 63 and 64 extending from opposite sides thereof. The bosses are in turn supported by bearing standards 65 and 66 which project upwardly from the platform 7. The sleeve 62 is provided upon its inner periphery with annular flanges 67 which extend into close proximity to the periphery of the shaft at each side of the passages 6l.

The sleeve 62 carries an adjustable flange member 68 on each end thereof, which flange members are adapted to compress suitable packing 69 between them andthe external walls of the annular flanges 67 so as to force the packing into frictional engagement with the periphery of the shaft l0. The cylindrical boss 64 of the sleeve 62 is tubular, communicateswith the interior of the sleeve 62, and is connected through a coupling 70 to a flexible conduit 7l. The conduit 7l is connected to asuitable source of compressed air, and consequently the compressed air willr be `transmitted through the conduit 7l, the coupling 70, and the cylindrical boss 6ft into the interior of the sleeve 62. The packing 69 prevents escape of the compressed air along theexternal periphery of the shaft l0. The compressed air passes through the passages4 6l into the chamber ,60 in the shaft l0.

A pipe 72 passes through the wall 59 and communicates with the chamber 60.v The pipe 72 passes forwardly along the shaft l0 in the interior thereof, and at the forward end of the shaft 10 it passes outwardly through the same and along the external periphery of one of the arms, such as le, of the forked vend of the shaft to a point in proximity to the shaft l5. In passing along the arm la, the pipe 72 is preferably disposed within a channel formed in the surface of the arm so as to be protected par-v tools 21 may be of any suitable construction,

but are preferably of the type which are rendered active automatically bythe engagement of the cutting end 22 with the surface to be cut.

Aestandard75 is mounted in a vertical position on the forward end of the platform 7 and supports a shaft 76 therein for rotation about a vertical axis. The shaft 76 may be rotated by means of a hand wheel 77, which is xed upon the upper end thereof. Brackets 78 and 79 depend from the under face of the platform 7 through a v laterally elongated slot 8O in the upper face of the car l at its forward end. A shaft 8l is rotatably mounted in the loweiI ends of the brackets at right angles to the shaft 76. A bevel pinion 82 is fixed upon the shaft 8l between the brackets 78 and 79 and meshes with a bevel pinion 83 that is fixed upon the lcwer end of theshaft 76.

A worm 84 is also fixed upon the shaft 8l between the brackets 7 8 and 79and meshes with an arcuate rack 85 providedupon the frame of the car l. When the hand wheel 77 is operated it will rotate the shaft 76,' l

and the latter, through the pinions 83 and f 82, will rotate the shaft 8l. The worm 8l will rotate with the shaft 8l, and by its engagement with the rack 85 will shift the forward end of the platform laterally across the upper surface of the car l and about the bearing axis of the plate and member 6 at the rear end of the car and platform. The meshing of the worm 84 with the rack 85 serves to lock the platform to the car automatically whenever the worm is not in rotation, and additional locking meansis therefore unnecessary.

A vertical standard 86 is mounted upon the platform 7 and is provided with a vertically extending bearing passage in alignment with the axis of rotation of the member 6 upon the plate 5. In this vertical passage, a shaft 87 is rotatably carried. The shaft 87, at its upper end is connected by a pin 88 to a sleeve 89 which bears upon a shoulder ofthe standard 86 so as to prevent downward movement of the shaft inv the bearing passage and, at the same time, tov

permit rotation of the shaft inthe passage. A second shaft 90 is rotatably mounted in an extension bearing 91 of the standard 86 so as to be aligned with and abutting the upper end of the shaft 87. A worm wheel 92, which is fixed upon the upperv end of the shaft 90, prevents downward inovc ment of the shaft 9()l through the bearing extension 9i. A clutch member 93 is keyed upon the lower end of the shaft 90 so as to be rotatable therewith as well as slidable axially thereof. The lower en d face of the sleeve 93 is provided with clutch teeth which may engage with clutch teeth provided in the upper end face of the sleeve 89 when the sleeve 93 is shifted downwardly. When the sleeves 93 and 89 are coupled, the shafts 87 and 90 will rotate inunison. An

operating handle 94, pivoted to the standard the sleeve into and out of coupling engagement with the sleeve 89 without interfering with the rotation of the sleeve 93 with the shaft 90. The worm wheel 92 meshes with a worm 97 carried by the shaft 25 of the motor 24. The lower end of the shaft 87 carries a bevel pinion 98 which meshes with a bevel pinion 99 fixed upon a shaft 100 that extends transversely across and is rotatably supported by the frame of the car 1.

The shaft 100, (Figs. 3, and 6) adjacent its ends, is provided with pinions 101 which mesh with gears 102 fixed upon the axle shafts 103 of the wheels 2 of the car, so that when the clutch handle 94 has been operated to couple the shafts 90 and 87 and the motor 24 in operating, power' will be transmitted through the shaft 87, pinions 98 and 99 to the shaft 100, and the latter through the pinions 101 and gears 102 will drive the car wheels 2 at the rear end of the car l and propel it along the track. 'lhe propulsion of the car from the motor can be effected while the cutting tools are being rotated, so that the apparatus can be moved progressively along the tunnel while the tools are being rotated about the double axes. In view of the position of the shaft 87, axially of the bearing between the platform and car, the car can be propelled by the saine motor that drives the cutting tools and the platform can be shifted laterally of the car whileexcavating laterally curved tunnels.

The forward end of the car may carry a suitable scoop 104, which extends along in close proximity to the bottom wall of the tunnel for collecting the excavated material and depositing it upon the belt 105 of an endless carrier. The endless carrier belt 105 passes around an idler roller 106 that is mounted adjacent the forward end of the car and beneath the upper end of the scoopv 104, and it also passes around a roller 107 carried by a shaft 108 (Figs. 1, 5 and 6) at the rear end of the car. The shaft 108 may be rotatably supported in bearings 109 which project downwardy and rearwardly from the rear end of the car 1. Suitable idlers 110 and 111 may be provided below both stretches of the conveyor' at intervals along the length of the car to prevent sagging of the conveyor belt, and the idlers 110 supporting the upper stretch of the belt are preferably concave so as to give concavity to the upper stretch of the belt for the purpose of preventing loss of the excavated material while it is being conveyed to the rear end of the car. A sprocket chain 113 passes around a sprocket wheel 112 that is fixed upon the shaft 100, and also around a sprocket wheel 114 that is iXed upon the shaft 108. The endless conveyor will, therefore, be driven from the shaft 100 wheneverthe car is being propelled forwardly along the tunnel.

In the `operation of the device, the parts are assembled in the relationship described and illustrated and the conduit 71 is connected to a suitable source of compressed air. The `clutch handle 36 may be operated to couple the motor 24 to the shaft 10 and the clutch handle 94 may be operated tov The motor 24 couple the shafts 90 and 87. is then started and its power will be transmitted through the gearing described to the shaft for rotating the same in the bearings 11 and 12. At the same time, the pinion 41 which drives the gear 42 on the shaft 10 will also drive the gears 56 and 57, and they through the-gears 59 and and shaft 54 will drive the gear The gear 52 will drive the pinion 51 because both are fixed upon the same shaft 48, and the pinion 51 will drive the pinion 47 of the shaft 43 while the shaft 43 is being rotated bodily with the shaft 10 about the shaft 48. The shaft 455 through the pinion 45 willrotate the tool carrying member 19 and the shaft in a plane extending longitudinally of the tunnel while being also rotated with the shaft 10 transversely of the tunnel.

The cutting edges of the tools will, therefore, all move through the same linear distances while in cutting engagement with the walls of the tunnel, and consequently the wear thereon will be uniform. By disposing the tools in an angular position upon the member 19, so that they will extend in the direction of travel resulting from their double rotation, they will cut their own clearance.

At the same time, the worm 97 on the motor shaft will rotate the worm wheel 92 and the shaft 90. The shaft 90, which is now coupled with the shaft 87, will drive the latter and the pinion 98 carried thereby. The pinion 98 meshes with and drives the pinion 99 of the shaft 100, and the latter through the pinions 101 and gears 102 propels the car along the trackway and provides the necessary forward feeding movement concomitantly with the rotary cutting movement of the tools. As the material is excavated, it will drop to the bottom of the tunnel and be carried up the scoop 104 by the forward movement of the car and deposited upon the endless carrier belt 105, by

means of which it is carried to a point in the rear of the car and discharged.

The compressed air will pass through the conduit 71, coupling 70,and the cylindrical boss 64 to the sleeve 62, and then through the passages 61 to the chamber 60. From the chamber the air is conducted through the pipe 72 into the tubular part of the shaft 15, and then through the drum 16 and conduits 23 to the tools. The sleeve 62 remains stationary during the rotation of the shaft 10, and the packing 69 prevents escape of the compressed air along the outer ilo peripheral surface of the shaft 10. When the tunnel being excavated curves laterally, the handle 77 will be rotated to shift the forward end of the platform 7 laterally upon the car in accordance with the degree of curvature of the tunnel.

It will be obvious that various changes in the details and arrangement of parts herein described and illustrated for the purpose of explaining the nature of the invention, may be made by those skilled in the art within the principle and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

I claim:

l. In a tunneling machine, a frame, a member carried by the frame for rotation about an axis extending longitudinally of the tunnel to be formed, means for rotating the member about said axis, a second member carried by the first member at its forward end for rotation thereon about an axis transverse to the tunnel, pneumatically actuated excavating means carried by the second member in position to engage the wall of the tunnel to be removed, means by which the second member will be rotated about the transverse axis concomitantly with its rotation with the head about the longitudinal axis, a compressed fluid supply conduit rotating with the first member and having a connection axially to the second member, and pneumatic connections between the second member and excavating means whereby the latter will be continuously supplied with a compressed actuating fluid in all rotative positions.

2. In a tunneling machine, a car for travel through the excavated tunnel, a shaft rotatably carried by and extending in a direction lengthwise of the car and terminating at its forward end in a fork projecting beyond the Jforward end of the car, a member rotatable between the fork arms about an axis transverse to the axis of the shaft, a pneumatic tool carried by the member, said member having a conduit rotating therewith and to which the tool is connected for receiving its actuating fluid, a conduit carried by the shaft and having a fluid tight slip connection to the conduit rotating with said member, a main fluid supply conduit having a fluid tight slip connection to said conduit carried by the shaft so as to supply a compressed actuating fluid thereto continuously during the rotation of the shaft and means for rotating the member in the fork and the shaft with the fork about the axis of the shaft.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my signature.

FREDERICK CHARLES LIDKE. 

